Lawson's sacking is not only frightening because it is actually unprecedented, even in the harsh world of Formula 1, for someone to be dismissed after two races. It is more so because of the underlying message.
New Zealand is anything but a motorsport nation, and Liam Lawson is anything but a super talent. It would be a shame to argue with this, because these are FACTS. We have seen real examples of both, and they certainly do not look like the (former) Red Bull Racing driver and his background. Helmut Marko and Christian Horner knew this well, they saw it too, as they also watched closely how Lawson is constantly outperformed in every single indicator by his current replacement, Yuki Tsunoda. And not only him, but all his teammate suffering at Racing Bulls. He considers and complies with every request, wish, sigh. He changes as a driver, he changes as a person, he subjects everything to comply. Despite this, it is still not clear that he will get the Red Bull seat...
By the way, don't get me wrong, I don't think Tsunoda is an RBR-level driver at all, someone who can be expected to win races, to actively participate in the fight for the constructors' championship. But he is definitely more suitable for this task than Lawson. It's just that damn money. They don't even give you the illusion that anything else matters to them when choosing a driver. Or even sadder: they don't even give you the illusion THAT ANYTHING ELSE MATTERS.
Because if it mattered (in a company with such opportunities as Red Bull, I don't even understand this whole concept), then they would definitely take it and put Fernando Alonso, who has been lying fallow for years, who deserves a much better fate, who is willing to do anything for success, and who is "able to die", next to Max Verstappen. A driver with whom the team could place itself in a different dimension, both in terms of sports history and economics. If instead of business and chasing giga-extra profits, they respected the sporting value of Formula 1 even a little, then they would say, "we, Red Bull Racing, will give the fans what they have always wanted. Fuck it, let's Rock'n'Roll!" Because they can.
True, they can also destroy young people who deserve a better fate on an assembly line and produce more and more Liam Lawsons every season. It's sad that they exercise this right.
Photo: Planet F1
